Faces of Snowmen
by Hekate1308
Summary: Of course Sherlock Holmes has to build a snowmen in front of the Yard. Sherlock/Sally, part of my ongoing universe.


**Author's note: It wouldn't be the season without a fluffy Sherlock/Sally fic, would it? Anyway, it has been a while since I visited this universe. Enjoy!**

Of course Sherlock Holmes has to build a snowman in front of the Yard with the few flakes that fell last night to solve a case. She sees no reason to question it.

Which is why she is standing outside, wrapped up, watching her boyfriend and attempting not to find him adorable as he builds a snowman.

He'd be horrified if he knew that word crossed her mind while looking at him.

But seeing his enthusiasm, it's difficult to suppress a smile.

She should be inside, working on the case, looking over the evidence. But even though they have been together for over a year, they still feel drawn to one another whenever they are close, so naturally she grabbed her jacket when he explained that he was going outside for a few minutes.

Luckily, Greg isn't going to complain, and all her colleagues either think her insane to begin with or throw her smiles. It's rather surprising how often she gets smiled at these days, even by strangers. Her sister insists it's because she looks "smitten, even after a year". She doesn't think too much about it.

It's not like she has much time to so do, anyway. She is busy most days.

She always makes time to talk to her friends and family though, so when Judy talks, she happily picks up.

"Hello!" her sister greets her excitedly, and Sally knows immediately that Judy is about to ask her something and won't take a no for an answer. She recognizes the tone.

Her sister starts talking about the Christmas party "her and Sherlock" are hosting, and Sally should correct her. They are not living together, although she spends a lot of time at Baker Street. It's John's and Sherlock's party, not Sally's and Sherlock's.

But she likes the sound of it.

"I thought you'd come to us for dinner next Saturday" she suddenly explains, and Sally frowns, not because she thinks it's a bad idea, simply because she is surprised. In the last month, Sherlock and her sister have met a few times, but he has still to get to know her family. They have been taking it slow. It's not that she doesn't trust Sherlock to treat them well – for all his obvious disinterest in children, she is certain that he will be fine with her nieces and nephew – but her sister and her family are so... normal. And normal people have been known to be overwhelmed when they meet him for the first time.

She should know. She was normal once too, a long time ago.

She registers she hasn't said anything for half a minute and tells her, "Wait a moment".

"Sherlock?" she calls out.

"Yes" he answers immediately, and she rolls her eyes at him good-naturedly. Not that he notices; he is too preoccupied with the snowman and she's starting to suspect that his enthusiasm has little to do with the case.

"What are you doing?" Judy inquires, and when Sally tells her Sherlock is building a snowman, she laughs.

"That's a change from "he is experiment with a human organ". Have fun".

She hangs up.

Sherlock's managed to build quite a big snowman, considering how little snow there is, and on an impulse she picks up a few pebbles and makes him a face.

He throws her an amused glance and raises an eyebrow.

"A snowman has to have a face" she points out. He smirks and looks at his watch, mumbling something about "melting time" and she leaves him to it.

Greg is in his office; she informs him that Sherlock is studying the snowman, and he doesn't even attempt to suppress his grin.

A few minutes later, she sees him walk towards the elevator from her desk.

His collection of pictures from his friends will soon include Sherlock and a snowman.

She sends her boyfriend a text and soon enough, she gets her answer: a picture of Greg while he's taking a picture of the snowman.

She shakes her head. Sometimes she wonders how her life came to this.

John strolls in shortly after Greg's return.

"The snowman is melted to about two thirds of its original size" he informs her.

She waits for him to elaborate and he adds, "I don't know what it means either".

"What did the witness say?"

John, as everyone who knew him had predicted, eventually abandoned his job at the clinic to help Sherlock full-time. It's as normal for him to run around the Yard as it is for any of the officers there. They barely pay attention to him anymore.

"I heard you'll introduce him to your sister's family this weekend" he begins, and she nods.

They both know there's nothing to worry about, but nonetheless Sherlock will.

Sally still remembers how nervous he was before he first met Judy.

She will admit that him and Tony meeting will be – interesting. Even she thinks her brother-in-law is boring. She likes him, and he makes her sister happy, but all he ever talks about is politics and sports and his job. Considering he's a tax accountant, these conversations tend to be not the most fascinating.

Sherlock is bored easily if he doesn't like the person he is talking to.

She shakes her head. No matter what happens, she will still be happy that she is the only woman Sherlock Holmes wants to be with.

She stays over at 221B on Friday, and they spent a for once lazy Saturday with Sherlock experimenting and her reading and chatting with John and Mrs. Hudson.

Then it's time to leave, and she picks up the toys she bought for the children and the bottle of wine for their parents. Sherlock automatically opens the door for her.

Judy is waiting for them, smiling happily. She hears the children and Tony in the living room. They probably wanted to run towards her like always, but Judy wished to give Sherlock a quiet welcome in her home.

She really loves her sister.

"The children are so eager to see you" she sees happily after she has hugged them both.

It's an understatement. "Aunt Sally's boyfriend" has been a mystery in their lives for a while now; the last time she came to visit, Kathy, the oldest, concluded that he was "something like a superhero" and she had to try not to laugh.

Even if she thinks the same, most days.

At first, Sherlock seems a little overwhelmed when the children rush towards him; he can't even greet their father because they are already introducing themselves. Thankfully, they refrain from launching at him.

"You're tall" Kathy tells him.

"A perfectly sound observation" he answers. It's his habit to talk to children like they are adults. Sally has noticed it during several interviews.

It may seem strange to their parents, but the children appear to be happy to be taken seriously, and Kathy is grinning so she definitely doesn't have anything against it.

Before they can say anything else, Tony introduces himself, and Sally spots the exact moment where Sherlock comes to the conclusion that he is a tax accountant he normally wouldn't talk to unless it were for a case, but he politely shakes his hand and attempts to make small talk.

Which of course leads to Tony talking and Sherlock nodding, but Sally knows it is difficult for him and that he does it for her.

He doesn't have to act unlike himself for long. Tim, the youngest at for years old, stretches and pulls at his hand.

"Do you really catch bad men?"

"Yes" Sherlock confirms. Tim immediately starts jumping up and down. Sherlock watches him with an expression that speaks of fascination as well as confusion.

Then Tim very resolutely pulls on his hand again, so that Sherlock has to get down and the boy can whisper something in his ear. Sherlock listens to him and then nods.

Tim grins at his sisters and without talking, they decide that Sherlock is worth playing with and drag him away to their room.

Or that's what they would tell their parents.

Sally knows better.

Judy thinks that they shouldn't know too much about what she is doing. They know their Aunt is a DS, of course, and that she arrests criminals; but she doesn't want them to hear the details.

Predictably, this means that whenever Sally is watching them, they demand that she tell them everything.

She always does. She remembers too well that when she was Kathy's age, she snug into their library and took the books that were considered too explicit for her – mostly crime novels – and read them in secret. And Tim and Pat aren't scared easily either.

She could tell Judy and Tony, of course. But isn't that what an aunt's supposed to do – spoil them when their parents aren't looking? Plus, she knows how much Sherlock enjoys talking about his cases.

She helps her sister and brother-in-law in the kitchen. Not that there is much for her to do.

Judy is gushing.

"They clung to him – and even Tim. You know how he is with strangers. We should have invited him sooner".

Tony tells her that Sherlock "is a nice guy" and she sees it as the compliment to her boyfriend's manners that it is.

She doesn't like him pretending, though. It's clear that he isn't with the children. He doesn't even have to with Judy, who, while she doesn't understand him and has admitted as much to Sally, is more than ready to accept him.

Tony...

Tony is just like the others. The ordinary humans. He won't understand, and there's a chance that he won't even tolerate like Judy, and Sherlock pretends.

Kathy's excited voice reaches her ears, although she can't make out the words, and Sally smiles.

With the children, there is no pretending. They want him to be himself.

Judy nudges her.

"I thought you were going to set the table" she teases, and Sally blushes. Judy laughs.

"My God, my baby sister so smitten – never thought I'd see the day".

She mumbles something about her being as bad when she met her husband before she can stop herself. It only makes her blush all the more.

Dinner passes easily, the children still taking up most of Sherlock's attention, although they wisely don't talk about his cases and when Judy ask what they were doing in their room, Kathy answers "playing" so seriously that the subject is dropped. Sally ignores the smirk Sherlock sends her way.

All in all, the evening is a success, an even greater one than Sally could have hoped for.

Just when she thinks it can't get better, Tim squeals and jumps off his chair, racing towards the window, his sisters following him.

It's already dark, but Sally knows what's going on immediately. There is only one thing that could have them so excited.

"It's snowing!" Pat exclaims and then they are back at the table.

Tim pulls at Sherlock's hand again.

"Uncle Sherlock?"

It's the first time one of them has called Sherlock uncle, and she can see the disbelief in his eyes. Judy and Tony smile, and she feels rather warm and giddy again.

"Yes?" Sherlock asks calmly.

"Mummy said that Aunt Sally said you built a snowman. Can you build one with us?"

Sherlock is halfway out of his chair when he realizes that the reason he was asked instead of one of the other adults in the room is that it's dark outside and children aren't supposed to play outside when it's dark.

Judy is in a very good mood however, and simply says, "As long as you wrap yourselves up. And no leaving the garden. And you listen to Uncle Sherlock".

They promise everything, of course, and rush off to get dressed, but before they leave the room, Sherlock calls out, "I have a condition as well".

When they turn around, he says, "Aunt Sally has to help. She's good with faces".

Sally thinks she could very well get used to this.

**Author's note: This the season of fluff!**


End file.
